Force Of Nature

Human ingenuity working in harmony with nature lies at the heart of an ancient ecosystem that produces the world’s best cashmere, as we find out on the set of a documentary commissioned by Italian luxury brand Loro Piana about the goatherders of China and Mongolia

- Hong Xinyi

Weather is destiny. This adage rings particularly true when you are traversing the steppes and deserts of Mongolia. These vast landscapes look primordial and their captivating beauty belies a harsh climate.

Temperatures can soar beyond 40°C in the summer and plunge to -50°C during long, hard winters. Rainfall tends to be modest and snowfall is light, except when there is a dzud, the local term for an intense, devastating blizzard.

Mongolia’s centuries-old nomadic culture was shaped by these conditions. The lack of rain wasn’t conducive to farming. Instead, herders lived in tune with nature, letting their animals graze in the cooler highlands during summer, then moving to low-lying areas in winter. This seasonal migration gives pastures time to regenerate, which is particularly important for those who own goats, voracious eaters that tend to pull the grass up by the roots as they graze.

Having evolved to survive Mongolia’s extreme climate, the local Capra hircus is exceedingly resilient. This goat species not only has a coarse outer fleece that shields it from the sun and rain, but also an exceptionally soft undercoat that insulates it against bitter cold. We know this fine fleece by another name—cashmere.

Cashmere is an old-school luxury, literally. It derives its name from Kashmir, the region spanned by India, China, and Pakistan from which Roman emperors once obtained this prized fiber. Today, China and Mongolia are the world’s leading producers of cashmere, and the Italian fashion house Loro Piana has been sourcing the finest cashmere fibers from Mongolia and neighboring Inner Mongolia (an autonomous region within China) since the 1980s.